


learning to love (again)

by professortennant



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Beauty and the Beast AU, Beauty and the Beast Elements, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Trust Issues, audrey is gaston (sorta), the whole gang is here as furniture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2016-12-20
Packaged: 2018-09-09 22:39:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8915776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/professortennant/pseuds/professortennant
Summary: Beauty and the Beast AU."You shall be punished, Melinda May. You shall live a cursed life until you can trust those around you and more importantly, you learn to trust yourself.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> the beauty and the beast philinda au that literally no one asked for but it’s been beebopping around in my brain for the last few days and it needs to be let out. there’s really no time period this is set in; it’s super ambiguous so all anachronisms can be allowed!

Once upon a time in a far away kingdom, a young princess lived in a dark castle. Her mother and father, warriors of their kingdom, had long gone: dead or missing, the young princess didn’t know.

Her childhood had made her cautious, distrustful, but she cared deeply for the servants of her home and the people she ruled.

One dark and stormy night, a loud, resounding knock had reverberated through the castle. The young princess ushered her compatriots behind her and told them to keep quiet.

It was her 18th birthday and she anticipated an attack from neighboring kingdoms who may be eager to overthrow the May dynasty and take her land for themselves. It was on her 18th birthday that she intended to take the crown officially, her parents gone too long and abdicating by absence.

In the princess’ estimation, the best way to limit casualties in the event of an attack was to place the kingdom under curfew until she thought the danger had passed. No one should be out this late. This intruder was either desperate for help or had nefarious purposes.

The princess wasn’t here to take chances. Not with her kingdom at stake.

She swiftly crossed the open hall of her court and cracked the door open, eyes narrowed. “Yes?”

A haggard old man stood outside her door, heavily cloaked and a patch across one of his eyes. “I require shelter, Your Highness.”

But the princess, suspicious and unwillingly to place her makeshift family in harm’s way did not budget. “State your purpose. The kingdom is under curfew.” Her eyes narrowed, head tilting, “Show me your face.”

But the man did not move, only stating once more, “Would you not let an old man into your home but for a night?”

The princess was immovable. “Not for a man as secretive as you.”

The man’s low chuckle turned dark and he threw the cloak off himself. A powerful light shone around him and she watched as his wrinkles faded away and into smooth, brown skin. The cloak became sleek leather and covered the man’s now rapidly de-aging body. Before long, a youthful, strong man stood before her.

The princess, scared for what she had seen, stepped back, attempting to shut the door. She turned to warn her servants but before she could utter a word, the man spoke.

“I am Fury! For your distrust, you shall be punished, Melinda May. You shall live a cursed life until you can trust those around you and more importantly, you learn to trust yourself.” The man, Fury, cupped his hands together, murmuring quietly to himself. Melinda watched in horror and fear as a ball of light--of magic--formed between his hands. She turned on her heel, desperate to warn her family, to get them out of here. She just had to get them out of here, to safety.

Before the words left her lips, the ball of light was being hurled at her back, landing squarely between her shoulder blades.

With a cry, the princess fell to the ground, convulsing. Barely lifting her head up, still fighting to help her family, she saw with horror that they were also on the ground, the entire castle surrounded in a blinding, yellow light.

As she lay on the ground, Melinda heard Fury leave with an almost sorrowful, “Good luck, princess.”

* * *

 

Providence was a little town--a quiet village. Each day was the same as before: bakers sold their bread, booksellers sold books, and families hustled and bustled through the town’s main streets picking up the goods of every day village life.

It was perfectly quaint and ordinary.

Phil Coulson hated it.

He and his mother lived on the outskirts of town and they had yet to really settle down and feel like one of the villagers; never really felt like they belonged. His mother, whom Phil adored, was a collector of rare books. She traded in ancient texts, thick scrolls, and forgotten stories.

Phil had grown up on a steady diet of adventure. He and his mother were there with Ulysses sailing on the Aegan, fighting against the gusting winds of Poseidon. He fell asleep to the sound of his mother whispering about Aladdin and mystical genies and stories that never ended.

(He had spent the next week bothering the earthenware seller by picking up each and every vessel and rubbing furiously, hoping beyond hope for a genie to emerge and grant him his 3 wishes.)

As if the fact that his mother--a woman--dealt in books and stories, a disgrace to any well-respected Providence home, wasn’t enough to keep the Coulsons from ever truly integrating into Providence life, Phil Coulson also happened to be a monster.

At least, that’s what he told anyone who would listen to him for more than 5 minutes.

As a young man, just about 16 years of age, he had a scuffle with a townie--Loki, his name was--over the right to propose marriage to the local beauty (and the then love of young Phil Coulson’s life): Rosalind Price. Rosalind had shared his love and thirst for adventure and he had thought this was his path in life: to find a fellow adventurer, marry, and never stop writing their own stories.

Except, Phil had ended up with a sword through his chest and his mother crying frantically over him, pressing cloths into his wound to stop the blood, pumping at his chest to restart his heart (something she had read in an old Greek medical text), and feeding him every herb and medicine she knew could aid in clotting blood and ensuring the healing process.

His heart had stopped. And then 8 seconds (or 40, depending on when he told the story) his heart restarted. Rosalind had left arm in arm with Loki and Phil had been left as a monster with a hole in his heart.

Phil had cried for days, scared and unsure. What did this make him? A monster. A freak. He should be dead. He remembered crying into his mother’s shoulder, “It was so warm there, Mom. It was light and happy. I-I think I heard Dad.”

His mother’s sharp intake of breath and her tight grip on his shoulder made him loathe to speak of it in earnest again. Still, he was what he was. Back from the dead and a better, stranger man for it.

The town had ostracized them both and his mother had packed them up and moved them to Providence.

Providence with no adventure, no Rosalind, and a deep loathing for the strange Coulson family. A son who claimed to be raised from the dead and a mother who didn’t know a woman’s place.

But today as Phil’s 18th birthday and he was determined to bring him mother back the finest cake the town baker, Mackenzie. had to offer. Despite the strange looks most of the town gave him, Mack had brought him under his wing and offered him extra sweets and rolls. Phil would always owe Mack a great debt.

  
On his way into town, he said his hellos to those who dared to make eye contact, but otherwise kept his head down. It was while his head was down that he bumped straight into the town beauty, Audrey, and sent himself careening into a large puddle of mud.

Audrey clapped a hand to her mouth, “Phil! I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

  
Phil laughed, splashing rather hopelessly in the mud, “It’s fine, Audrey. Maybe while I’m down here I’ll build a Golem and really get this town talking.”

  
His allusion as met with a blank smile and Phil chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck with a mud-covered hand. Oops.

Audrey shook her head at him, “I just don’t know what you’re saying half the time, Phillip Coulson. But,” she added with a flirtatious smile, “I know you’re just about the most handsome man I’ve ever seen.”

  
Blushing, Phil pulled himself out of the mud. He was never sure what to do with Audrey’s straightforward flirting. It reminded him of Rosalind and he felt his chest ache with the memory.

  
“Well, you’re very, very pretty, Audrey. Everyone says so.”

It was true. Audrey’s best friend, LeFeu, a stout little man who was half in love with Audrey, Phil was sure, spent most of his day ensuring the rest of the town knew exactly how great Audrey was, how beautiful, how fair, and how ladylike.

Which was just fine, in Phil’s opinion. It just wasn’t what he wanted in a wife.

Audrey brushed a mud-coated leaf out of his hair and Phil watched as she tried to hide a grimace and the way she quickly rubbed her hand on her handkerchief. “Yes, but do _you_ think so, Phil?”

  
She was leaning forward, eyelashes fluttering. Phil gulped and took a large step back, fumbling for the latch on the door to Mack’s bakery. “Well, looks aren’t everything, are they? Don’t want to end up like ole Narcissus!”

  
With a hasty laugh and a slight stumble, Phil bid Audrey a good day and found himself free of her. He let out a grateful sigh before happily heading for the back of the shop, calling out for Mack.

What a day.

* * *

 

Audrey’s smile dropped and she stopped fluttering her eyelashes in that ridiculous fashion. With a slight twitch to her eye, she turned to face her friend, LeFeu. “He didn’t take the bait. What am I doing wrong?”

She tapped her foot impatiently and LeFeu simpered beside her, wringing his hands. “I don’t know, ‘Drey. You’re beautiful beyond compare. Coulson’s an idiot. I don’t know why you want him anyway.”

  
Audrey huffed. Typical man. LeFeu didn’t understand anything for a woman like her. She was beautiful, yes. But she was also talented. A cello say in her tiny bedroom and she knew without a doubt that she was mean to play that cello for the world to hear.

  
Except she was stuck in Providence until her parents had her married off. And when Phil Coulson blew into town with promises to leave just as quickly as he came to go on some grand adventure, Audrey knew she had found her one-way ticket out of this town.

“I will marry Phil Coulson. Just watch me.”

LeFeu sighed wistfully, looking after his best friend. Why did everyone want to get out of Providence so damned bad?


End file.
